Just as I was about to jump into the shower the other morning, Muddy Madam shouted that she thought someone had just driven into Deux Smurf.

As quickly as I could, I threw on some clothes and rushed outside to watch as a neighbour was busily wiping a huge black mark off the Deux Smurfs front bumper. What had happened was, she had reversed all the way down the Cul-De-Sac opposite Muddy Towers, reversed around the corner and into Deux Smurf's off-side front bumper with her near-side rear light cluster. No, I wasn’t pleased, but I didn’t go borderline crazy at her either, not because she had caused more damage to her Fiat 500L than she had to Deux Smurf, but because she didn’t do it on purpose, and she wasn’t half panicking.

On first impression it appeared that all she’d done was scuff the bumper, but a closer inspection revealed that she has also pushed it in a good 2”. At first it didn’t seem much of a problem, but on the way to work that morning the tyre would grind on the bumper extension when turning left, this needed to be sorted.

A quick detour after work to a mechanic I’ve known for around 30 years, Steve Wilson in Bolton, confirmed that to straighten the bumper he would need to remove the wheel, inner arch and other bits to push it back into place. £70 tops Steve reckoned, so I arranged to drop her off the following week.

According to Steve it was an awkward job and not one which he originally though he could fix, so he ended up taking Deux Smurf elsewhere.

A day or 2 later than expected and she was back outside Muddy Towers, and after a scrub with Muc-Off's Bug & Tar remover I got rid of the Fiat’s black bumper mark and Deux Smurf's bumper was as good as new again.

On the subject of bumpers, this little incident reminded me of the time I was in Sainsbury’s car park a few years ago when a Metro taxi reversed into my old ’96 Discovery. Oddly, he hit the off-side corner of the bumper too with his tailgate, but unlike Deux Smurf it wasn't structural and an easy 30 second fix. The taxi however had a lovely dint in its tailgate!